Voters in the city of Los Angeles cite the high cost of housing and homelessness as serious problems, but lack confidence in the ability of local and state government to make the city more affordable.
The findings come from a survey conducted by the Los Angeles Business Council and released Thursday ahead of the June primary elections for mayor and governor, in which housing and homelessness are sure to play a big role.
This year, like previous LABC polls, homelessness and housing affordability were the issues top of mind for voters, with 95% saying homelessness was a very serious or serious problem, while 87% ranked housing affordability the same way.
Overall, 63% have thought at least somewhat about moving out of Los Angeles due to housing costs, with 37% saying they have seriously considered it.
Concerns about housing and homelessness are not much different from previous years.
Voters showed growing concern about taxes, jobs and public safety, even though fewer considered those issues as serious as the number of people on the streets and the cost of rents and mortgages.
Overall, 60% said the state is on the wrong track, while 67% said the city is on the wrong track.
When it comes to housing, some thought the authorities could right the ship. Overall, 66% said they had “not very much” or no confidence that the state government could improve housing affordability in the city. But they expressed less confidence in city and county governments to solve the problem. Forty percent wanted the state to play a bigger role in promoting manufacturing at the local level, while 20 percent did not want so.
Forty-eight percent said the city should “significantly increase the number of new housing units to address the shortage of accessible and affordable housing”, while 34% said the city should not do so.
While only a majority wanted a “substantial” increase in the number of homes in the city, a clear majority supported items to promote at least some construction, such as speeding up the approval process for apartment buildings if they include some below-market units and allowing denser housing along major transportation corridors.
Nearly 70% also supported limits on rent increases, while 44% of voters wanted the city to focus on building short-term homeless shelters to get people off the streets, while 25% of voters wanted to focus on permanent housing with services.
FM3 Research conducted the survey on behalf of the Business Council; It surveyed 751 registered voters in mid-April.
